The present invention relates to a cutting tool-setting apparatus and method to be used in a cutting process, such as a turning process or a flying cutter process, for transferring a motion trace to the surface of a material to be cut (hereinafter abbreviated as workpiece) by a relative motion between the workpiece and the cutting tool for performing a mirror finished surface cutting of the workpiece (hereinafter abbreviated as tool).
In recent years, there have been demands for a highly accurate setting of a cutting tool, in particular, in a process for mirror finished surface cutting (S.P.D.T: single point diamond turning). Thus, the cutting process depends on a skilled worker's manual work on an apparatus in operation.
A conventional method of setting a cutting tool is described below.
FIGS. 11 and 12 show a conventional method of setting the cutting tool.
FIGS. 11 and 12 show a partial plan and front view showing a processing machine for performing a turning process.
In FIG. 11, reference numeral 61 denotes a cutting tool; 62 denotes a workpiece; 63 denotes a chuck for chucking a workpiece-rotating shaft and having a function of holding the workpiece 12 at both ends thereof and rotating it; 64 denotes a tool-fixing base; 65 denotes a fixing screw for adjusting the posture of the cutting tool 61 in the X-direction and fixing it to the tool-fixing base 64; and 66 denotes a fixing screw for adjusting the posture of the cutting tool 61 in the Z-direction and fixing it to the tool-fixing base 64. The cutting tool 61 can be fixed to the tool-fixing base 64 with the fixing screws 65 and 66. Reference numeral 67 denotes a feeding table; 68 denotes a fixing screw for adjusting the posture of the cutting tool 61 in the .theta.-direction and fixing it to the tool-fixing base 64; 69 denotes a feeding guide; and 70 denotes a feeding direction. The cutting tool 61 is moved in the feeding direction 70 by fixing the tool-fixing base 64 to the feeding table 67 and moving the feeding table 67 straight along the feeding guide 69. The cutting tool 61 is fed in the feeding direction 70 with the cutting tool 61 operating on the rotating workpiece 62. In this manner, the surface of the workpiece 62 is processed. In order to obtain a mirror finished surface, it is necessary to maintain the positional relationship (at a level of several .mu.m) and angle relationship (at a level of several seconds) between the posture of the cutting tool 61 and the workpiece-rotating shaft with high accuracy. To this end, a worker skilled in processing the surface of the workpiece 62 to a mirror finished surface secures the posture of the cutting tool for performing the mirror finished surface work by adjusting the fixing screws 65, 66, and 68 while the worker is processing the surface of the workpiece 62 on the processing machine, based on the worker's sense and experience.
However, in the above-described conventional construction, the worker's sense and experience is greatly relied upon. In addition, it is necessary for the worker to perform the screw-adjusting operation on the processing machine. Thus, there are problems that the operation lacks reproducibility, thus lowering the operating efficiency of the processing machine.